Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival has been taking place in Melbourne since the 7th of March.  Unfortunately most of the meals are held over the lunch hour and as a teacher it isn't really anything I can get to.  In addition I've been away the last two weekends so I haven't been able to take part in any weekend events.  This weekend I'm in Melbourne.  

A few weeks back I noticed that there was Cellar Door at South Gate . It is part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and for a $25 fee you can  taste wines from over 60 of Victoria's finest boutique wineries.  Any one who has ever been with me on a "training" or "racing" weekend in the Okanagan  knows that wineries are part of the training and racing experience.  Although I'm not really training or racing these days I couldn't possibly pass up a chance to try out some wines.

I arrived a few minutes before the noon opening, paid my entrance fee and was handed my wine glass.  That's where the fun began.  It was incredible to see so many different Victorian wineries  represented.  

This is a view looking down the line of tables of wineries.  

I soon discovered that there were a lot of tables each sampling wines from their wineries.  I also quickly learned that the tables were set up in regions.  It was cool to be able to walk past a few of the wineries since I had already been to their actual winery on one of my weekend adventures.

At each table I picked up a business card or brochure and wrote down which wines I tasted and what I thought of them.  I'm no expert wine taster but a wine typically received a "not my thing", a "so so", a "not bad" or a "good" rating.  I tried a lot of wine I didn't like and I tried a lot of wine that I did like.  

Part way through the day I had to stop to eat.  There were a couple of food vendors  and I was able to pick up an excellent pasta .  It was also hot and sunny in Melbourne today - low 30's which is such a nice change to the cooler weather we've been having.  

All those little white tents were wine tasting tents.

(Oh, did I mention it all took place outside on the South Bank of the Yarra River)

I now have to spend the next little while trying to figure out what I wrote about each of the wines I tried.  I figure if there were 60 wineries I tried wine at least 45 of them and at each winery I probably sampled on average 2-3 wines.  That's a lot of wine to figure out.  I guess I have my work cut out for me.

While my teaching buddies back at home are enjoying their Spring Break, I'm here in warm and sunny Melbourne (or at least today) sampling heaps*  of wine.  I guess things could be worse.  

There are two more weeks of school this term and then I'm off to New Zealand for two weeks.  I can't wait.  Next weekend I'm heading to Canberra for about 36 hours.  I also booked a weekend in Adelaide over the long weekend in June.  I may be heading to Kangaroo Island that weekend which means I won't really see Adelaide.  Obviously I'll keep you posted when those plans are finalized.  I have a few trips to the airport between now and early June - Canberra, New Zealand, Sydney, and Adelaide.  I also think the exchange people have an Aussie Rules Football day for us planned and a weekend in the Grampians.  Stay tuned for more updates.

*heaps is word I hear fairly often here in Melbourne